Expect the Unexpected
by Avelyn Lauren
Summary: We've all heard the saying,"Things are not what they seem in mudville," right? The Sengouku Jidai is exactly the same way. This deviates from the Final Act ending. Enjoy!


**Disclaimer: As you all have read a million times with all of these 95,000+ stories on this site; I do not own Inuyasha and the characters' just the story line.**

**Expect the Unexpected**

The smell of cooking stew awoke the group from the frosty ground on this particular morning. The usually clad in a short skirt, Kagome, was wearing the pair of hakamas that were rather rough but she swore up and down that they were comfortable and warm. Well to her credit the pants did look a lot thicker. However, watched with envy as what Kagome called everyday wear actually allowed for less restricted movements on the miko's part.

Inuyasha came out of the woods with a dead rabbit that he had skinned already for the stew Kagome was cooking. He watched as the group had started to stir. They had been doing this for three years now and it seemed that there was no end in sight. At least, it seemed that way. They had about a quarter of the jewel sense Kikyo had given the first half of it to Naraku about two years ago. The pieces were getting harder and harder to find so it took longer than it used to. Inuyasha might act like an arrogant, impatient prick at times but he really did understand more than he let on about things that were happening around him. He knew what he feared the most and exactly what he was doing. The moth youkai had been correct in the forest before he destroyed the bastard. He feared being alone again but more than that he feared being betrayed by the very group of friends that he feared losing. To him this made little to no sense at all. He could handle being alone. It was tha unbearable feeling that he could never truly forget, the longing that came with being alone in a world that didn't accept because you were born.

He had been born a dog and to be more precise he was also human. Dogs were supposed to have packs and youkai more so. It helped to keep a social order in their society. He was human as well and the kamis knew that they humans were never meant to be alone. He had very rarely come across humans that made themselves into hermits because they were tired of the world, they had been turned out from their village or for some other unknown reason. It was the reason he seemed to attract the weird group that he had with him. Oh, Kagome had been forced on him in the beginning. Shippou, however, had the ill fortune that many children seemed to have and it didn't matter if they were human or youkai. His parents had been killed at too young of an age and the young kit wasn't able to fully defend himself yet. He had a feeling that the kit was older than he suspected but as a youkai it took longer to grow and to get his powers fully developed. He was going to have to find a place to take Shippou for the required training that would help him survive in a harsh world that would slowly either deplete the youkai population or would make it blend in with society in order to prevent from being killed. Miroku was a charlatan and a con man but he was a powerful priest and for the most part a good man to have at your side as long as there wasn't a female around. Sango, she was unique in and of herself. She was born to a Tajiyah village that was better trained than many of the women from those villages, most likely due to the fact that her father was the village headman. If something were to happen to him she would have been expected to lead. The women were mostly trained to protect the village while the men went out on dangerous missions. If most humans thought to the same lines they would be better off for it. It didn't matter if the youkai was born female or male because they were trained to use their powers and to defend themselves and their land.

It seemed to be worse in Kagome's time though because the male and the female population seemed utterly defenseless. Oh they could fight and they still had the will and desire to live but it didn't seem to be as profound as it was in this time period. It was why almost every village had some men that could defend the town. It explained a lot about Kagome and why she was so different from the world around them. She had been here for three years and she held more fire now than when she first came to the Sengouku Jidai. That was saying a lot. She was an alpha alright to the human and the youkai with her take charge attitude. He had seen both groups follow her without question. This irritated him somewhat because she didn't seem to know her place but it also endeared her to him because she never backed down from a fight with him or someone else.

A decision made he decided to seem completely out of character, as he diced the rabbit into little pieces so Kagome could cook the food for them. Hai, he loved it when she made Ramen but it had been a little while since she had been able to go home and they were all out of the food. He just wasn't going to tell them what he was up to. "Keh, wench, do you detect any jewel shards?"

Kagome drooped her head, Inuyasha had to work to not flatten his ears as it was his fault that she was most likely comparing herself to Kikyou. Kikyou was a powerful priestess bu the difference was the Kikyou had been training to be a priestess her whole life. Kagome had shown that she had a lot of powers bottled up in her on many occasions and it always took them by surprise. Her powers showed when her impassioned anger completely took over so that they could defeat foes such as Naraku. She just didn't fully comprehend her powers but he wasn't entirely sure that any of them understood them. There was a possibility the infant understood to some length just how strong Kagome was but the child didn't understand the human heart either. "Ni, gomen Inuyasha." She said quietly. One day Inuyasha would make it up to her, he just hoped that she wasn't too late.

"There's a village that we will arrive at late this afternoon. I'm going to scout ahead so that I can make sure that it is safe for us to go there." He had started doing this a while back since it seemed Naraku would occasionally send his minions to the villages that they stayed at and some of the ones that they didn't. Inuyasha ran off in the direction that he knew the village was at. He had two purposes and he knew one of them would meet him soon enough.

Sesshomarou smelled the air around him. "Lord Sesshomarou," Jaken began to speak.

"Jaken, keep an eye on Rin." He didn't say more than that before he called his cloud and headed the opposite direction. He found what he was looking sitting in a shielded hut that only two people knew about. This was neutral ground but it had not been used in over 20 years.

"Keh, what took you so long?" Inuyasha's back was to the Lord of the Western Lands.

"What is it, Imouto?" Inuyasha didn't respond for minute trying to figure out exactly how to word this to Sesshomarou.

"I'm heading to my village. I need to know, if you know of a training center for Kagome?" Inuyasha turned to face his brother on equal ground. They didn't exactly hate each other but they did have a lot of animosity toward one another. It was mostly because of their father, Lord Inutaishou, never mated Sesshomarou's mother and mated Izayoi.

"Why Inuyasha?" Lord Sesshomarou raised an eyebrow slightly.

"She's very powerful and she hasn't had the proper training. She has burst of powers that she doesn't understand or even knows how to control. We need her to have some control over her powers so that she will better be able to help defeat Naraku." Inuyasha's posture stood straight.

"Go to your village Inuyasha I will send word when I have talked to someone that can accommodate her powers." Sesshomarou looked to his brother and waited. There was something else his brother wanted and by the look of him this would be highly entertaining.

"I want to leave Shippou at the castle so he can be protected better. He's too young to be dealing with a lot of this stuff and he needs to train. I would like to have Sango train with some of your best warriors as well because while she is strong, she can be stronger." Sesshomarou was right about these last requests.

"You don't want your pack to stay with you, Imouto?"

"Keh, we won't be that far away from each other. Sango has Kirara and if it is just her they can make the trip in three times the amount of time that a normal human could." Inuyasha went to the old ancient chest that his mother had kept and pulled out a couple of packages. Sesshomarou walked through the barrier as Inuyasha headed toward his village. If it was still shielded then they were safe.

Later that morning Inuyasha was back with the Inutachi having confirmed that all was safe for a moment. The girls had freshly bathed and Miroku had had a horrible looking glower that he was sending Shippou whom was comfortably curled on next to Kirara. Kagome was just stuffing the last of their camping gear in her bag. "Keh, let's go."

They headed west when Shippou jumped to Inuyasha's shoulder and was sniffing Inuyasha. "If you know what's good for you brat, you'll keep quiet." Inuyasha barked quietly in Inu so that only Shippou would understand. Thinking that this was odd because Inuyasha didn't usually use the inu language, Shippou remained silent and just sat on Inuyasha's shoulder.

Kagome looked on in shock as Shippou just sat on the temperamental hanyou's shoulder. There was a commotion behind her as she heard a slap behind her. It wasn't as loud as it usually was but the result was still the same and to Sango's credit Miroku was still standing. Kagome shook her head. Miroku may have the powers of a monk and may have the ability to rival some of the most powerful monks of this time eventually but he was every bit a man.

Kirara returned about midafternoon and landed next to Sango in her full form with her tails swishing contentedly beside her mistress. Kagome always thought it strange that the neko always seemed to hold a secret that she could never say or at least wouldn't. Shippou went from Inuyasha to Kirara when she arrived and curled up on her back. "Inuyasha, can we stop real quick please. I want to check Shippou's temperature." Kagome requested.

"Keh," Shippou had been warm while sitting on his shoulder but he had a suspicion of what was happening to the young fox. "He'll be alright wench." He crossed his arms before remembering that they needed to change. "Kagome, follow me please." He led her a little away from the others.

Kagome followed quietly knowing he rarely asked her this. "Take off your clothes please."

"Inuyasha, os…"

"I didn't mean it like that." He placed his hand over her mouth before handing her a package. "I'll send Sango to help you." He placed Tessaiga's sheath in the ground to protect her.

Sango arrived a few moments later. "What's going on Kagome? It's a little cold for him to be asking you to do this."

"I don't know Sango but I'm more curious as to where he found this kimono." Sango looked down and found that Kagome was correct. The material was a plain dark blue silk but on the left shoulder was the mark of the quarter moon.

"Isn't that…" Sango took a closer look to see that it was and that there was a small star in the center of it.

Inuyasha had finished changing when they arrived. His kimono was black silk with the moon and star on the same shoulder. "Keh," was his answer but not his personal reaction to the woman that stood before him. Sango had also changed to her kimono as well. Good. You'll need these. He handed Sango and Miroku a pendant. Each also held the moon and the star. In typical Inuyasha fashion he didn't answer any enquiring looks but led the way for the next half mile to the village where sentinels stood guard.

"Halt, you may not pass." One of the guards said. Inuyasha stood his full height proudly with Tessaiga by his side.

A figure walked up to the gates wearing the blue and white robes of a miko. You do not pass until you have answered a question." She took in the group before her. "What is the name of the person who placed the barrier around this village?"

Inuyasha answered atomatically in the Inu language and then in Japanese. "the houshi, Yama Hisha." The guards lowered their weapons upon the priestess' command.

"My lord," bowed to him before she led them in. The rest of the group followed in stunned silence. They were in his village. That had to be the case. It was the only thing that explained what had just happened.

"Inuyasha, what just happened?" Kagome asked.

The village was filled with multiple levels of youkai, ningens and hanyous. They were oddly at peace and it was the first time Kagome had seen such a thing since Hijiri island. Needless to say the island hadn't been such when they arrived but from what she had found out their world had been at peace until the for youkai brothers' powers had been sealed and they began to sacrifice the inhabitants to feed their powers.

Miroku however had a better question, "Inuyasha, how do you know of Yama Hisha?"

"Why?" Shippou asked.

"Yama Hisha is my ancestor." Miroku said quietly.

You could hear a pin drop around the group with those words.

"Keh," was Inuyasha's typical answer. He would answer the questions later.


End file.
